I am chuckling and rolling my eyes over the Bristolgate fiasco that is brewing over at Dancing With The Stars. Bristol Palin is in the finals. She can't dance, many of us can agree on that. Much better dancers have been eliminated before her. There is some speculation that- and brace yourself here- there is some ballot stuffing going on.
Yes, I really said that. I know, I know! It's scandalous, really. How low! How dishonest and underhanded! How utterly unfair! Clearly, the Tea Party is behind this!
Wait, what? Who?
I hate to break it to the world...ok I take that back. I love to break it to the world that this is the way it's done. This is the way it has always been done. Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini were the final two in the very first American Idol. Need I say more? These "contests" are popularity contests, nothing more. Talent or lack thereof is not a deal breaker. Much like our election process. (Governor Jesse Ventura and Senator Al Franken, hello?) But I digress.
So I am not going to debate Bristol's lack of dancing talent. She does not belong in the finals. What is cracking me up is the seemingly sudden outrage over the voting process that is clearly stacked, clearly unfair. And the fact that it is Bristol Palin who is under fire. If it were any other dancer, any other Bristol, any other talentless "dancer", it would likely be shrugged off. Our disappointment (and that would be the extent of it) would be casually attributed to an "unfair popularity contest", we would move our jaded selves onward to the next reality contest.(Or not.) We who have watched previous seasons have been exasperated over the eliminations. Other shows have also let people down, pissed them off, and maybe even had them shooting up their televisions with a shotgun! (Crazy story!) And yet, now there's a real problem.
But this is America, right? Palin is a punchline. Tea Partiers are racist, bigoted haters, right? And if a talentless would be dancer named Palin is making it to the end of the contest, it must be a...wait for it...conspiracy.
Give me a break.
I think the question everyone asked when it was announced she would be a contestant was a valid question, though, and has gone unanswered: Just how does she count as a star in the first place?
ReplyDeleteI've never seen the show and have no desire to; it's just not my bag. But I think the greater issue than how far she got on a show for which she was largely unqualified in the first place is just how important it is to viewers who really have absolutely no stake in the outcome anyway.
I mean, I could see Vegas bookies freaking out. The family and friends of those who've been eliminated? Sure. But some guy sitting at home with a shotgun? That guy has far bigger fish to fry than how Bristol Palin performed in a TV contest.